Life Lessons
by 001megster
Summary: "It wasn't spoken angrily or defensibly, she would rather it would have. Instead, the calm, controlled voice he used scared Hermione Granger out of her wits. Before she could give away how badly he'd spooked her, she turned round and stalked off. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy, an expert in hiding emotions, knew exactly how she felt; it was exactly how he intended her to." Dramione


**Disclaimer: None of it is mine**

Hermione Granger stood on platform 9 3/4 and couldn't have been more excited if she tried, under the circumstances anyhow. Here she was, taking a compulsory bonus year at Hogwarts, with her best friends Harry and Ron somewhere nearby. She sighed with contentment.

Fairly importantly for her, however, was the badge that delicately hung from her cloak. It read "Head Girl." It was not nearly as important as it once had been; she had discovered that her friendships and living life to the full was what gave her the most satisfaction. She had only found out her position the day before, unusually unorganised for Hogwarts, and assumed Harry had only received his position the previous day too. She scanned the crowd, looking for something, anything, that told her that her friends were near.

She turned round and at once noticed the crowd giving a wide berth to a dark haired boy. "Harry!" She shouted, as she flung her arms round him. He took a few steps back so as not to fall over. As she finally released him she looked down at his top. "Where's your badge?" She asked, puzzled.

"What badge?" Harry gave her a quizzical look.

"Your...head...boy...badge" She trailed off slowly.

"Oh! Sorry, of course. I forgot. You know how easy it is to forget things like that after all we've been through." It was the closest they'd come to talking about the war all summer. She put a reassuring hand on his shoulder,

"They don't seem anywhere near as important as they used to, do they? It's weird, really," she let out an almost hysterical giggle, barely above a whisper, "I never really thought about how much I needed you until I thought you weren't there anymore."

"I know, Hermione. I know." Harry said softly. They stood next to each other in silence, neither wanting to break the mood.

"Hermione?" She looked up at the eyes that had so often been told they looked like their mothers,

"Yes?"

"Don't tell Ron. About...this. Conversation thing. It'd only hurt him more."

Hermione nodded. It had been bad enough for her thinking she'd lost a best friend. He had actually lost a brother.

Soon enough a tall, lanky ginger ran over and brought them both into a bear hug.

"Ron!" She squealed, giving him a huge hug.

"Woah Hermione! You'd think I'd been away for years!" She grinned, though deep down she knew she was mainly just putting on an act.

"It feels like it! Oh guys! Aren't you excited to know what this whole bonus year is about? I, personally, can't wait!" That was true, at least. They hadn't been told to bring any textbooks which Hermione thought was odd, yet nobody else seemed to have noticed.

Harry and Ron smiled at Hermione's excitement.

"So Ron? What have you got to tell us?" Hermione said slyly. Ron looked blank.

"Erm, nothing? What am I supposed to tell you?"

"That you're Captain! Of the quidditch team!" Hermione smiled expectantly, waiting for the moment of clarity that would dawn over Ron's face. It didn't come.

"Oh, yeah. I'm Captain. We all know that though 'mione." He looked at her nonchalantly, like he hadn't been trying a new nickname out for her.

"What did you just call me? You should know I can't STAND being called that! All the Hermione's in every single film, book, play or whatever," she stomped her foot on top of his, "Get called 'mione. I. Will. Not." Ron had paled slightly at this, watching her hand creep closer and closer to her wand, whilst Harry was biting his cheeks in a desperate attempt to not laugh.

"And you can shut up too." She said.

As Hermione walked along the aisle on board the Hogwarts Express she chatted away to Ron, Harry and Ginny. Harry with his hand around Ginny's waist, much to Hermione's amusement.

"And I can't wait to meet Professor Jones! I was very surprised when I found out he was going to be the new potions master. I mean, don't you find that Professors usually have more interesting surnames?" Hermione had discovered that talking about not so important things let her momentarily forget about the important things. Well, maybe not forget, but...mute. Momentarily. " Jones is a very boring, very common, very muggle surname. I reckon he's a half blood or muggle born. Don't you think Ginny? Mind you, I wouldn't be surprised if he had a number of middle names to make up for that dreadful surname of his, and I don't doubt that his first name will be something hard to pronounce like 'Zachariah', or 'Maximilian' or, well, something like that. Anyways, must dash, I'm going to check out the Head Girl and Boy's carriage! You can come along later, I promise!" Harry had, unsurprisingly, declined the offer to visit the carriage with her, choosing rather to stay with Ron and Ginny instead. She didn't blame him. The incident had brought them closer, but she couldn't bear the pain that came with the silences between the two. With that she opened a carriage, ushered them in and ran off, missing Ron's comment of "Christ, she could talk for England!"

She approached the door cautiously, knowing that once she turned that door, either all her hopes about what the Head carriage would look like would become a reality or be dashed into pieces. Pretending that it had a massive significance to her momentarily dulled other pains that refused to leave.

She creeped up slowly, closed her eyes and walked in a little too dramatically, holding her breath.

She had expected something more spectacular from the place. Instead she had a sofa that curved all around the room with a tray in the middle, full of biscuits. Hermione was disappointed, that was for sure.

As she walked out the room along the corridor to Harry's carriage she bumped into Draco Malfoy. He sneered at her; she didn't even acknowledge him.

Harry, Ron and Ginny stared at Hermione as she flopped down onto one of the cold hard benches that the mere 'prefects' had to put up with. Ginny sat up, excited. "Sooo..." She began.

"So what?" Hermione snapped back. "Sorry Ginny, that came out too harsh." Ginny pursed her lips.

"Well then, go on!" She nodded her head eagerly. Hermione frowned.

"I'm not going to tell you. That'd be plain wrong!" She moved her hand to the side of her mouth so that only Ginny could see her mouth, "He's sat right next to me, for Salazar's sake!" Harry and Ron, both completely baffled by this exchange, both piped up with "What the hell are you two on about?" Causing them all to burst into giggles. There was a knock on the door.

Ginny, between giggles, got up and opened it. Luna Lovegood stood outside.

"I heard laughing. I wondered if I could join you." Ron snorted.

"Of course you can Luna. You it's just see Ron," Ginny said, giving him the evil eye as she said his name, "told us a funny joke. In fact, why don't you come sit here, next to me?" Luna was halfway through murmuring her consent when Hermione jumped up.

"No! Don't be silly! Come to my carriage," she began, then waggled her eyebrows, "we have free biscuits."

They all piled into the Head carriage. Unsurprisingly, Ron dived straight for the biscuits. Harry, knowing this would happen, grabbed the tin just before he got to them.

"And that's why I'm seeker!" Harry said proudly. Luna, who had somehow got sidetracked on the way to the carriage, chose that moment to run in, knocking Ginny into Harry. The biscuits went flying, that is, until Ron reached out and grabbed the tin from midair.

"And that's why I'm keeper." He replied, smugly.

"Touché," said Harry, leaning in to get a biscuit.

"Hey, where are they?" When he looked up he saw the biscuits frozen in midair. Hermione was sat, staring at them intently, muttering something under her breath. Then they all flew from their positions into the tin.

"If I hadn't done that, they would be all over they floor by now!" Hermione said crossly.

"And that's why you're the brains!" Harry and Ron shouted together, before they ended up in fits of laughter.

Time passed quickly as they sat and talked. No-one mentioned the war though. It was too painful; wounds were too deep and still healing. Eventually Hermione looked at her watch and gasped.

"Merlin's beard! We'll be there in 10 minutes! _10 minutes!_ We are not setting a very good example!" She exclaimed, before ushering everyone out of the room. She may already have had her cloak on, but her muggle clothes were underneath. She grabbed her robes and went to find the toilet where she could change. Unfortunately, the queue stretched almost halfway along the train. "Oh for Salazar's sake!" She muttered, before seeing Ginny and Luna walk past, arm in arm, already in their robes.

"How did you two get changed so fast?" She shouted across the aisle to them.

"Got changed in the carriage!" They shouted back, trying to make themselves heard over the ruckus the pupils in line were making. Hermione gave them a thumbs up, feeling a bit daft that she hadn't come up with that idea herself.

She had just finished unbuttoning her top with her back to the door when she heard it open.

She spun round, with only a bra covering her top half, to see none other than Draco Malfoy stood there.

"What the hell are you doing here, Malfoy?" She shouted, pushing him out of the doorway before putting a spell on the door to prevent anyone else coming in.

"Colloportus!"

She blushed as she continued getting dressed, remembering the way he had just stood there looking her up and down. It had been unnerving for her, but she couldn't shake the feeling that Draco Malfoy, of all people, had smiled as he walked out. She sat down and steadied herself. Yes. Of course he smiled. He just walked in on the Golden girl wearing only a bra. Not only would any hormonal boy smile at seeing a half-naked girl his age, but the fact that it was her, miss goody-goody-two-shoes, probably appealed to his twisted sense of humour. Yes. That was it.

After she recovered from the shock Hermione walked off the train, head held high. She stalked past Draco and instead of sneering at her, he smirked. And before she could reply with some smart ass comment, he grabbed hold of her.

"Shut up Granger." He said.

"What?" She replied, confused.

"What?" He asked back innocently.

"You told me to shut up! I wasn't talking!"

"Oh my God." Malfoy mocked, drawing a hand to his mouth, "Granger wasn't talking! I'm sorry, I just assumed that because you're always talking that you would be then. Evidently not." Then whilst inspecting his nails, "And what was it, Granger, that made you lose your voice?" He brought his eyes up to meet hers.

"You...you're...you're-"

"So incredibly fit? So insanely gorgeous? Enough flattery Granger, I've heard it all before." If looks could kill, Draco Malfoy would be no more.

"Actually," she began, having regained both her courage and her voice, "I was wondering how such a spoilt, stuck up, bratty son of two Death Eaters managed to touch a filthy mud blood without melting! And there's no need to answer because it's a rhetorical question! And I'm not, despite what you may think, going to patronise you with what that means! How the hell are you still here anyway? Why aren't you in Azkaban or something? She threw her hands up in despair, "Some people just don't get that this isn't only your second chance. We've got to be in the hundreds now. _And. You. Never. Change!_" She pointed at him accusatorially.

He tried to pretend the words didn't sting. That they didn't crush him. That they didn't make him want to end his pathetic excuse of a life. And he succeeded. He was a Malfoy, and Malfoy's never ever show emotion. If he would remember one thing his father taught him, it would be that. Instead, he muttered too quietly for anyone but Hermione to hear,

"Be careful Granger. You shouldn't judge when you don't know what you're talking about."

It wasn't spoken angrily or defensibly, she would rather it would have; it would have worried her less. Instead, the calm, controlled voice he used scared Hermione Granger out of her wits. Before she could give away how badly he'd spooked her, she turned round and stalked off. Unfortunately, Draco Malfoy, an expert in hiding emotions, knew exactly how she felt; it was exactly how he had intended her to.

**I need three first names for some of Harry's classmates! There is Miss (_) Moon, who is in Ravenclaw, (_) Spinks in Hufflepuff and (_) Runcorn in Slytherin. It is not known what gender Spinks or Runcorn is, but Spinks is a very cheerful person and a talented singer from Lincolnshire whilst Runcorn is from Liverpool and Miss Moon is from Dublin. Basically, these are surnames we've been told by J.K Rowling but never been told the first names of, and I want YOU to help me come up with them! Please write your suggestions when you review and I'll choose my favourites**


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